Ho ho ho! Sponge has delievered her first gift! Kawaii Eyez, ya lucky... Eye... Thing? Um.. Er.. Yeah... Well, I hope you enjoy!


I hate Christmas Parties.


"Stupid snow..." Yuffie was currently perched atop the roof of the old base of commands- the new one happened to be the old castle-, watching as snowflakes fell from the sky upon her little form and the roof, causing her to shiver and shake a little bit. But no! She was in no way afraid of the snow! The cold was nothing to a great Ninja like her! Grinning to herself, she looked upward, studying said white flakes. "I hate Christmas..." she muttered darkly, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at something nonexistent.

Which is why she wasn't in the Castle right now.

It was Christmas Eve and currently, Aerith was sparkling Christmas cheer everywhere- Yuffie couldn't walk into a hallway without dodging mistletoe or ducking away from Christmas writhes.

In fact, the entire castle was a danger zone. Every once and awhile she would hear Aerith calling her name, and she knew what the flower girl wanted- she wanted her to help her do.. Christmas-y like stuff. The thought of that made her want to puke out shuriken surprise.

Suddenly, her 'keen Ninja senses' picked up the sound of someone's heavy boots crunching the snow beneath them. She looked down to see Cloud, walking as calmly as ever- and she quickly and quietly dashed up the roof a little bit, lying low as she muttered under her breath, hoping that he wouldn't hear her. He didn't, as he walked right past the house.

Yuffie perked up, before studying him- what was he doing out here? She raised an eyebrow when she realized he was weaponless. That meant one thing in the Cloud language- that he didn't plan to be outside for that long at all. Judging by the way he was looking around with those keen, mako infected eyes- she figured out that he was looking for something, or perhaps... Someone.

Yes, Yuffie had spent a lot of time studying Cloud's actions- he didn't talk to her, and when he did, it was more straight to the point then Squallie was. Shaking her head, she watched him stop, before turning around and going the way he came. Smirking, she rolled up some snow on the roof and threw it at Cloud's head, shouting out for him to hear;

"'Ey, Cloud!"

He reacted at the worst possible moment- turning his head to look but getting a snow ball directly in the face. Yuffie put a hand to her mouth, attempting to stop herself from chuckling, but failing horribly. She hadn't expected to get him right in the face, but she wasn't complaining. He, on the other hand, slowly turned his body fully towards her, lifting up his hand at a dragging pace before clearing the snow from his face. Of course, Yuffie had continued to laugh.

"Nyuck, Nyuk, nyuk-Merf!"

Yuffie however, wasn't expecting a snowball to the face- the result caused her to fall onto her back and snow to cover her back. She hissed in between her teeth before jumping up- only to get another snow ball in the face, causing her to lean forward and fall face first into the snow. She was tempted to get up, but she knew that Cloud had a snowball in hand, waiting for it.

Cloud seemed to become that much more cheery during the Christmas season- in fact, everyone did- everyone in the Garden got happier, at least a little bit joyous.. Expect Yuffie, who would spend her time scowling in dark corners, spitting death threats at children and stomping on Candy canes while resisting the urge to kick that fake Santa in the face and rip off his fake costume.

Yuffie paused when she heard the footsteps of Cloud's combats- listening to the sound as he stopped suddenly, and Yuffie knew he was in front of her.

"Aerith wants you back at the castle."

Yuffie's head shot up, as she saw Cloud standing there below her, hands behind his back. Ignoring this, she spoke- "Noooooooo!" she whined loudly, and was about to continue- when she got another snowball in the face, causing her to cough and sputter up the taste of snow. She looked up at an amazingly innocent looking Cloud, and she realized he had been hiding a snowball behind his back. She glared at him, with an intensity she could melt snow with.

"I hate you." she snarled, folding her arms over her chest as she continued to glare at him. "Hate you like I hate Christmas!"

"You started it." he stated simply, before shrugging. "I finished it."

"Hateyoumaking me so cold..." Yuffie mumbled, shivering a bit and ignoring Cloud's presence.

"Come back to the castle."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Why?"

"Why?!" Yuffie stood up straight, waving her arms around wilding. "Ya'wanna know why? People dance around and give presents to each other, and act like nothings' wrong! I don't care because nothings' wrong, but before, everyone acted as if the world was ending, and then, for one moment, everyone takes the shurikens' out of their asses and acts so... FAKE!" at the last word, she shot her arms into the air, standing at the edge of the roof. However, in her rant, she had leaned forward- causing her to fall off of the edge. She cursed herself, knowing that she would now be covered in snow.

She ended up landing in the out stretched arms of Cloud, whom only grunted at the sudden weight. He raised an eyebrow, before staring at her.

Yuffie didn't want to make his gaze- it was strong, and it made the back of her neck and ears turn red. Ignoring the nervousness she suddenly felt, she only looked at him when he spoke- loud and clear. "If we're fake now, so are you." he commented, so quietly that Yuffie had to strain her hearing. Closing his eyes, he placed Yuffie down onto the ground, stepping away from her and regrading her quietly, as she tried to fight down her blush- luckily, it was cold, and he would think that she was chilly..

Why was she blushing in the first place? Shaking her head free of some snow that hadn't melted yet, she spoke. "Well, why do I have to go back? All we'd be doing is drinking eggnog and pretending that we're happy."

"For just one moment?" Cloud countered, the faint outline of a smile touching his lips before he turned away from her, awaiting her response.

Yuffie allowed the words to roll of her tongue before she could stop them. "Well, if I was with you, I wouldn't be pretending to be happy." she covered her mouth quickly, a blush creeping on her as she felt a lump gather in her throat. What a lame line! Plus, he had Aerith and Tifa! Both were ready and willing, so why would she even pause for a second to wonder if he'd think of her then anything more then a mere child?!

Hell, since when had she thought of him like that? It was too sudden for her liking.

Cloud quickly whipped around with wide eyes, and Yuffie cursed herself for not acting cool about it, so she could blow it off as a joke line. Cloud opened his mouth to speak, but Yuffie wouldn't hear any of it. She quickly turned, attempting to jump away but didn't get too far- as Cloud managed to grab her by the arm and pulled her to him, embracing her from behind.

By now, Yuffie was practically glowing better then Aerith's Christmas lights by his embrace. It only got worse when Cloud decided to rest his head upon hers. Taking a deep breath and then suddenly deciding not to use her lungs anymore, she bit her tongue. If she would have looked up, she would have seen how embarrassed Cloud was- his bangs had fallen into his gaze, as he long ago decided to close his eyes and pretend the color on his cheeks was from the cold.

"Aerith's not the only one that wanted you back." he whispered, narrowing his eyes deeply. This was hard for him- he really wasn't a cool and collected as he tried to convey, and was a very shy person deep down- especially when it came to his feelings. If she hadn't of said anything, Cloud would have never uttered a word about where he stood.

When he felt her tense in his arms, he frowned a little bit, before shaking his head. "Let's go back." he let her go, ignoring the sudden cold and turning the way he came.

Yuffie was stiff as hell, gulping down another lump in her throat- Yuffie didn't know if it would ever leave- before slowly turning to see Cloud's retreating form. Quickly, she jumped out of her daze, before chasing after him, yelling the question that was currently pounding inside her head along side her heartbeat.

"Did Cid spike the punch!?"


Yay.

S.O.H